On Thursday, Apple released its first "over the air" update for iOS 5. The 5.0.1 update was supposed to fix reports of early battery draining problems with owners of the new iPhone 4S smartphone. But as News.com reports, some people are complaining on Apple's official message boards that the battery issues have remained the same or even gotten worse.

Apple's official patch notes for 5.0.1 admitted that the update was released in part to fix battery problems for the iPhone 4S but stopped short of offering any official explanations for how the battery issues first occurred. But that's little comfort for the people who downloaded the update and are still saying that the iPhone 4S loses its battery charge much faster than normal. One user is quoted as saying, "Lost 15% in 45 mins and I didn't even use the phone. What happened? This update is no help. In fact, it drains the battery even quicker."

The article points out that some people might get better battery life if they allow the iPhone 4S to drain out completely and then recharge it to full strength. Another, if more drastic, suggestion is doing a full backup of the smartphone's software and then restoring it back to its original shipping state. Apple will almost certainly issue further iOS 5 updates and hopefully some of them will pertain to improving the battery life for the iPhone 4S.